Team Australia Bringing a Proven Roster of Surfers to Nicaragua

An ISA Gold Medalist and a Pipeline Master’s Champion, Australia’s Robbie Page will be aiming to increase his medal count by putting his barrel-riding skills to use at Colorado Beach at Hacienda Iguana. Photo: ISA/White

Three Former ISA Medalists and the ASP Masters Champion to Compete for Australia at Colorado Beach at Hacienda Iguana

A month from now hundreds of the best over-35-year-old surfers from nearly two-dozen nations will walk the streets of Rivas, Nicaragua, waving their national flags during the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Nicaragua ISA World Masters Surfing Championship. Among the participating nations will be Australia, wearing the traditional Bushman hats, anxious to begin competition and aiming to reclaim the Team Gold Medal which was theirs just two years prior. The team finished fifth last year in El Salvador.

A true superpower of surfing, Australia plans to bring a seasoned team of surfers to compete at Colorado Beach at Hacienda Iguana. Two of the competing Aussie athletes were on the 2010 team, which won the Team Gold Medal, and who were individual medal-winners that year, as well.

Joining the roster for the first time – and hoping to help Team Australia reclaim the Gold – will be the defending ASP Masters champion, Nathan Webster. Along with his Masters credentials, Webster competed on the ASP World Tour for a decade. His trip to Nicaragua will mark his first ISA event, where he will compete in the Men’s Masters (over-35) division alongside teammate Robbie Page, another former ASP Tour surfer and decorated ISA competitor. Page is a former Pipeline Master, winning the heralded title in 1988, while holding off the likes of Derek Ho and Tom Carroll. In 2008, Page put together an impressive display at the ISA World Masters at Punta Rocas, Peru, pulling double-duty and winning medals in both the Men’s Masters (Bronze) and the over-40 Men’s Grand Masters (Gold) divisions.

Rod Baldwin will be the lone Aussie competing in the Men’s Grand Kahunas (over-50), but much like Page, he has a history of success in ISA competition. In 2008, when Page won his two medals, Baldwin won the Bronze Medal in the Men’s Kahunas (over-45), and at the following edition of the event in 2010 he managed to ascend to the top of the podium, winning the Gold Medal in pumping waves at Santa Catalina, Panama. He had to withdraw from the 2011 event and was therefore unable to defend his title.

“It’s definitely an honor to represent Australia. I know the whole team is very excited to be traveling to Nicaragua, especially for Colorado Beach, which looks like a fantastic spot to hold the ISA World Masters,” Baldwin said. “This is my third ISA World Masters; I really appreciate the opportunity to travel to these events and experience a different part of the world. It’s great to escape our winter at home and get into some warm water and, hopefully if conditions are right, world-class waves.”

Sandra English will be competing in the Women’s Masters (over-35) division. One of the most prolific female Australian surfers of all time, English has won 10 national titles and 13 state titles in her prodigious career. She’s also a two-time ISA World Masters medalist, winning the Bronze Medal in Peru in 2008 and Copper in Panama in 2010.

David Hammond and Mark Cameron are both ISA newcomers and will be representing Australia in the Men’s Grand Masters (over-40) division. Both are longtime surfers and have placed well at numerous national events in Australia.

Rounding out the roster will be Scott Weinreich and John Schmidenberg, who will be surfing in the Men’s Kahunas division. Schmidenberg is a veteran ISA competitor, and is the defending national champion in his age group.

Team Australia RosterMen’s Masters
Nathan Webster
Robbie Page

Men’s Grand Masters
David Hammond
Mark Cameron

Men’s Kahunas
Scott Weinreich
John Schmidenberg

Men’s Grand Kahunas
Rod Baldwin

Women’s Masters
Sandra English

Team Manager
Leo Schulze

Be sure to check in to www.isasurf.org for further updates about the event as they are released.

About The International Surfing Association:

The International Surfing Association (ISA), founded in 1964, is recognized by the International Olympic Committee as the World Governing Authority for Surfing. The ISA governs and defines Surfing as Shortboard, Longboard & Bodyboarding, StandUp Paddle (SUP) Racing and Surfing, Bodysurfing, Wakesurfing, and all other wave riding activities on any type of waves, and on flat water using wave riding equipment. The ISA crowned its first Men's and Women's World Champions in 1964. It crowned the first Big Wave World Champion in 1965; World Junior Champion in 1980; World Kneeboard Champions in 1982; World Longboard Surfing and World Bodyboard Champions in 1988; World Tandem Surfing Champions in 2006; World Masters Champions in 2007; and World StandUp Paddle (SUP, both surfing and racing) and Paddleboard Champions in 2012.